Sting piles up for Rider Nation

The Roughriders defence has given up over 1,300 yards in three games.

    The Saskatchewan Roughriders love to torture their fans.

    In Canada, the only sports teams that arguably have more rabid fans than Rider Nation are the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs. While supporters of the green and white look forward to relishing in all the fun that comes along with cheering for the team, they also know it won’t be a joyride.

    If you cheer for the Riders, there will be days when you think, “Why did I decide to cheer for this team?”

    The Riders are also well known for winning games in a fashion that isn’t easy, and they are notorious for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

    The start of the 2015 CFL season has been one of those stretches that has Roughriders fans shaking their collective heads in disbelief. The team has dropped three straight games to open the campaign, and all three outings could have been won as easily as they have been lost.

    Friday night at B.C. Place in Vancouver proved to be one of the breaking points of frustration. The Riders assumed a 29-18 lead over the host B.C. Lions with 2:21 to play in the fourth quarter only to see the Lions rally back for a 35-32 overtime victory.

    Almost immediately after the game, social media, especially Twitter, exploded with Rider fans expressing their disgust over the outcome. Rider Nation was in a very cranky mood.

    The game’s turning point came when the Riders were trying to run out the clock after B.C. closed to within 29-26 on a 46-yard TD reception from former NFLer Austin Collie, who followed that with a catch for a two-point convert.

    Saskatchewan faced a third and one from its own 48 with exactly a minute to play. The Lions were out of timeouts, and a first down would all but assure a Rider victory. The visitors would be able to run out the clock by kneeling down on the ball.

    Unfortunately for the green and white, backup quarterback Brett Smith was stuffed on a sneak play by Lions linebacker Adam Bighill.

QB Brett Smith runs the Riders short yardage offence.

    The decision to gamble by the Riders was the correct one, because that was a key point where you had to make a play to win the game. The fact the Riders didn’t make the gamble opened the door for a boatload of criticism of the coaching staff for many other aspects of the setback.

    The Saskatchewan bench bosses almost received a reprieve, when Lions rookie kicker Richie Leone had to attempt a 56-yard field goal to force overtime. The Roswell, Georgia, product just slipped the lengthy pressure kick over top the crossbar to force a 29-29 tie with 15 seconds to play.

    The Riders scrimmaged from their own 35, but didn’t even try to move the ball into range for a winning field goal. They took a couple of knees to go to overtime.

    The visitors had the first possession in the shootout OT format and faced a third and one from the B.C. 26. Saskatchewan rejected the option to gamble and went for a 33-yard Paul McCallum field goal to go up 32-29.

    It took the Lions just three plays to move 35 yards on their OT possession, which culminated in a winning four-yard TD catch by receiver Emmanuel Arceneaux.

    On social media, a number of people in Rider Nation heaped criticism on the team electing not to gamble on third and one, when the Riders had their offensive possession in OT. At that point in time, electing to go for the field goal was the correct decision in order to have a score on the board.

    The fact the Riders didn’t try to move the ball in the final 15 seconds of the fourth quarter after the Lions tied things up was another story.

    Saskatchewan has assumed just criticism for its porous defence in the early going. The Rider offence has been going at full speed, but the defence has been soft, especially defending the two-minute drill situation.

    The Lions seemed to pick up yards at will on their final TD drive in regulation and the winning TD drive in overtime. In the Riders previous outing on July 5, they fell 42-40 in double overtime at home on the turf at Mosaic Stadium after the Toronto Argonauts completed a two-minute drill march at the end of the fourth quarter. That march resulted in a 16-yard TD catch by Chad Owens to force a 28-28 tie.

Disappointed Rider fans leave Mosaic Stadium on July 5.

    Saskatchewan opened the season on June 27 at Mosaic falling 30-26 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers giving up 470 yards in offence. The Riders proceeded to give up 367 yard in offence in the setback to the Argos and 480 yards of offence in the cough up to the Lions.

    In the off-season, the Riders let the personable Ritchie Hall, who has won one Grey Cup ring with the team as a player and two as defensive coordinator, leave for the Bombers, who are now 2-1. Head coach Corey Chamblin felt bringing Greg Quick as the new defensive coordinator was a shake up his club needed. Three weeks into the season, Quick is on the hot seat, Chamblin is getting thrashed for the decision to change DCs, and Rider fans are wishing Hall never left.

    The heat will keep coming until the Riders hit the win column. It will definitely be a long practice week at Mosaic leading up to the Roughriders next encounter, when they host the Lions (1-1) at 8 p.m. on Friday.

    If you have any comments about this blog post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

Rumblings are a plenty for Roughriders

Darian Durant is attended to by the Roughriders training staff on June 27.

    If you live in Saskatchewan, you know you can talk about the CFL’s Roughriders at any time, all the time and get heated dissecting every facet of the team.

    Since taking the field and falling in their regular season opener 30-26 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on June 27 at Mosaic Stadium, there is no shortage of things to discuss surrounding the green and white in Rider Nation. Everything is not all good, but everything is not all bad.

    • The worst news revolves around starting quarterback Darian Durant, who ruptured his left Achilles tendon shortly before halftime in the season opener. Durant completed 13 of 18 passes for 165 yards, two touchdown passes and no interceptions before being carted off the field.

    Durant tore a tendon in his right elbow last season in a 30-24 win over the Blue Bombers on Sept. 7, 2014 in Winnipeg. That injury occurred when the officials didn’t blow a play dead at the snap with certainty in a loud Investors Group Field, which saw half the players stop and half continue on the play. Bombers defensive end Bryant Turner continued with the play and nailed Durant to cause the injury.

    The elbow injury was created by an unfortunate set of circumstances. The ruptured Achilles occurred due to bad luck. Durant dropped to the turf after following through on a pass, and he wasn’t even contacted on the play.

    The 32-year-old has already cemented his place as a Roughriders legend leading the team to a Grey Cup championship at home in 2013 and Grey Cup appearances as a starter in 2009 and 2010. He was also part of the Roughriders 2007 Grey Cup championship team as a third stringer.

    For anyone that has dealt with Durant for a number of years, you know he legitimately cares and enjoys being the starting quarterback of the Roughriders, and he has excelled in that role. That hasn’t always been the case for a club that endures arguably more scrutiny from its fan base than any other sports team outside of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens.

    Here is hoping Durant’s luck changes on the injury front in 2016.

   
    • The Roughriders need to play tougher and more aggressive defence going forward in 2015, if they want to have any shot of challenging for the Grey Cup. Against the Bombers, the Roughriders defence gave up 28 first towns, 325 yards passing, 145 yards rushing and failed to force a turnover. Winnipeg running back Paris Cotton had 108 yards on the ground on just 13 carries.

    The Roughriders defence missed numerous tackles and was non-existent. The fact the Bombers were able to drive the ball at will was also disheartening. Safety Tyron Brackenridge is expected to return to the Roughriders defence for Sunday’s game against the 1-0 Toronto Argonauts (1:30 p.m., Mosaic Stadium), so that should help Saskatchewan’s defensive unit.

    • Offence wasn’t a problem for the Roughriders in their season opener. Under Durant or backup

Kevin Glenn (#5) calls out signals for the Roughriders.

Kevin Glenn, the offence looked good. The Roughriders put up 285 yards through the air and 212 yards on the ground without injured star receiver Weston Dressler, who is expect to return on Sunday.

    Glenn has put up Hall-of-Fame numbers in his 14 seasons in the CFL. With a full week of practice with the first-team offence, expect Glenn to be that much more efficient going forward.

    Life is also coming full circle with Glenn, who started his CFL career with the Roughriders before moving on to play with Winnipeg, Calgary, Hamilton and British Columbia. The 2003 West Final looked at one time to be Glenn’s last with the Roughriders. As a backup, he entered the contest with the Riders trailing the host Edmonton Eskimos 23-2 for an ineffective Nealon Greene.

    Glenn gave the Roughriders a chance to in that contest, who eventually fell 30-23. During that offseason, the Roughriders brass of general manager Roy Shivers and head coach Danny Barrett backed Greene, who had been erratic his whole Roughriders tenure, as the starter going into 2004.

    That decision led to Glenn’s departure from Rider Nation, as many felt he should have been elevated or given the chance to compete for starter status. Glenn resurfaced in 2004 with the Bombers after a couple of transactions.

    Now a cagey veteran, Glenn will have his chance to lead the Riders as the starter.

    • Kicker Paul McCallum also had a back to the future moment, when he resurfaced with the Roughriders this week. The 45-year-old last played for the Roughriders in 2005 before moving on to excel with the B.C. Lions.

    McCallum’s name was linked with one of the most infamous moments in the Riders’ history. After he missed a chip shot field goal in overtime of the 2004 West Final helping the host B.C. Lions pull out a 27-25 win, his home was vandalized, he was threatened and manure was dumped on his neighbour’s property.

    McCallum was brought back to add more consistency with the kicking game, which wasn’t there with Chris Milo. Milo, who is well-liked by the Roughriders organization, struggled last season hitting 71.4 per cent of his field goals, and he often hit the post. He was 1-for-2 in the team’s regular season opener, but it is obvious the Saskatchewan coaches still have big concerns.

    Since 2009, McCallum hasn’t had a campaign where he has made less than 84.6 per cent of his kicks. Last season, he made 38-of-42 field goals for a 90.5 per cent success rate.

Any one that has followed football for any length of time knows an accurate place kicker will always find work and age won’t be a barrier.

    Over the long term, the Roughriders would love for Milo to regain his form from 2013, when he made 46-of-52 field goals for an 88.5 per cent success rate.

    • As the Roughriders go forward, the coaches also have to step up their game.

Since becoming the Roughriders head coach in 2011, Corey Chamblin has done an excellent job overall. With that said, the coaches always have to get better too. Chamblin preaches that to his players and that also has to stick to himself and his staff.

    In the opener with the Roughriders down 30-26, they faced a third and three from midfield with under three minutes to play. Chamblin went with conventional wisdom, and the Roughriders punted hoping to get a defensive stop and one last possession.

    Coaches are responsible for putting their players in the best positions to win the game, and this looked like a smart move. Unfortunately, Chamblin didn’t do a good job in reading the flow of the play.

    The offensives on both sides were running the show. At that time in place, the Roughriders needed to get the go-ahead score, as time was running out.

    Chamblin needed to mirror Bill Belichick, who is the head coach of the NFL’s New England Patriots, and gamble at this point in time. With the way the Bombers were moving the ball, the chances were high the Roughriders would not get another possession, and Winnipeg did indeed ground out the clock.

    A good head coach knows that each game contains its own story and makes the best decisions to try and win with what is occurring. He can’t worry about making a decision to slight one side of the ball or the other, and he is able to get that message across to his players no matter what the outcome.

    Belichick always has the message that he always expects to make it when he gambles. Chamblin can say the same thing, if the gamble doesn’t work.

    At some point in time, the game hits a critical juncture, where you have to go for it. Chamblin needed to gamble on that third and three.

    • Penalties. As far as penalties go, the officials should go back to calling things the way they did in 2013. The tweaks that have been made to calling penalties in 2014 and this season have helped grind the CFL game down. The way calls have been made in 2015 really hasn’t led to more scoring in the early going outside of the Hamilton Tigers-Cats bombing the Blue Bombers 52-26 on Thursday night in Winnipeg.

    The only other squad to score 30 or more points was when the Bombers beat the Roughriders on June 27 at Mosaic. Offence wasn’t really broke in 2013 and didn’t really need fixing.

    If you have any feedback about this blog post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.